The Clips look well-organized and focused on defense. Not sure if that's coaching or just the product of playing together for a sustained period of time and knowing where other guys are on the floor. Whatever the case, it's reassuring.

You know what I'd like to see: some examination of whether the "playing together for a while" factor helps team defense. I'll look into it.

Since I've established myself as a Cat Apologist coupled with the fact that it's the preseason, I've held off on showering any unsubstantiated praise on C. Mobley. But hasn't he looked good - particularly off the dribble? What's most noticeable is that, more than anyone except Cassell, Mobley seems to instinctive understand the offense. He's shooting at a high-percentage and, though he had only one FTA last night, he's been getting to line.

Watching these preseason games you begin to realize that they're not for players of Elton's stature so much as they prepare guys like Shaun for playing with Elton. Because without EB in the game, how is Shaun going to master the offense -- figuring out how the best shots are going to materialize, understanding where the Clips' offense can exploit mismatches down low, mastering the chemistry with Elton since EB will receive a large plurality of the shots? 10 assists in 36 minutes suggest that Shaun is on it.

Zach Randolph. Nice player who gets a bad rap. But he's long and agile and, despite his reputation, seems to make generally smart decisions in the post, has a decent face-up shot, and is a monster on the glass. He's certainly a 4, but a little bit lazy on the other end against a brutish Brand. Again, it's only the preseason, but the Blazers should be better than they were last season if Randolph is completely healthy. And gets a Vespa.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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Comments

With apologizes to Todd, there is one thing PD did REALLY well, show on the high screen and roll. He was locking it down out there with Shaun. Dunleavy should show tape of that to the other bigs so Davis doesn't have to step on the court again until next preseason.

Agree on Cat. I was thinking at the game that 06-07 Cat > 05-06 Cat so far. But its subtle. He's just out there doing the little things right and not messing anything up just like last year, but somehow it feels like he is doing it even better. May be because its preseason, but I hope not.

Oh man, Sam didn't lose a step. I wonder if its because he doesn't have a step in the first place. When you are the better point guard on the floor while just walking around it won't matter how old you get.

Very strange game stats-wise. The Blazers way out-rebounded the Clippers, but it wasn't because EB had an off night, the Blazers just either turned the ball over before shooting (34 times) or hit their few shots (59.6%). The Blazers more than doubled the Clippers rebound total, but the Clippers got 30 more shot attempts. Let that all marinate. Bizarre.

Shaun: 15 points on 5-9 shooting 10 ast 1 TO 4 stl and a block
Sam: 15 points on 6-15 shooting 6 ast 0 TO 1 stl
What a wonderful problem to have. I still don't like them on the court together very much. The sets where Shaun takes it up the court only to hand it off to Sam on the wing for an entry pass to EB don't make much sense to me. All that set up burns so much shot clock. I guess the run the same 2-man game with Corey and EB over there, but it seems to take much longer with Sam like there is a lot of red tape involved with the play or something.

damn there are some intelligent basketball minds on this site, when i read some of the posts i swear i hear hubie browns voice in my head. keep it up very informative since i have only seen one preseason game.

I saw the Blazers' FG% and wondered what to make of it. They actually had more TOs [32] than FGs [28], and I credit the Clips for a lot of that. I guess this is why Hollinger prefers PTS/100 possessions to pure FG%.

Davis appeared a lot more confident last night. And, yeah, he came out nicely on Przybilla. It may be a reach to ascribe JP's inability to get a shot to Davis, but he must've been doing something right.

Great Blog. Sometimes people forget to mention how great our "D" is with this team. I truly believe its great coaching and great confidence in our own player's abilities. Shaun is going to step up this year! We just need to figure out what to do with Maggette... Hes getting worse.

For the regular season, teams can have up to 15 players on their roster, and before each game, they choose 12 players who will be active for that game.

From the articles I've read over the years, Dunleavy prefers keeping only 14 players for flexibility. In case of injuries or other circumstances, they can sign another player without having to waive another player.